Post by Cindy on Jun 9, 2015 6:18:12 GMT -5
How can we cultivate a heart for worship? By centering our thoughts on God. Worship is an overflow of a mind renewed by the truth of God. We are to focus our whole mind on Him. Centering our thoughts on God begins with what I like to call discovery. That is, when we discover a great truth about God, we begin to meditate on that truth until it captivates our whole thinking process. That in turn will lead to worship. If worship is based on meditation, and meditation is based on discovery, what is discovery based on? On time spent with God in prayer and the Word.
As believers we are rooted and grounded in Christ, but how deep our roots grow and how beautiful our fruit appears will depend, to a large degree, on our process of discovery and meditation on God’s wonderful truth. Where there is no discovery, there will be no meditation; where there is no meditation, there will be no worship. When we try to focus on worship, we will find one major hindrance—self. Instead of allowing time for prayer, meditation, and worship, we are prone to fulfill our own desires. We tend to think about our own projects, activities, and needs, but not about God. One way to circumvent that tendency is to have a heart filled with discovery from our own study of God’s Word. Even if we’ve learned it from someone else, we must meditate on those spiritual truths and make them our own. By doing so, the Lord will fill our hearts with praise. ....
A wise minister wrote long ago: Come now, little man, put aside your business for a while, take refuge for a little from your tumultuous thoughts; cast off your cares, and let your burdensome distractions wait. Take some leisure for God; rest awhile in him. Enter into the chamber of your mind; put out everything except God and whatever helps you to seek him; close the door and seek him. Say now to God with all your heart: “I seek thy face, O Lord, thy face do I seek” (cited by R.W. Southern in Saint Anselm and His Biographer). ...
There are some things God simply will not accept, and one of them is worship offered in a materialistic, self-styled, halfhearted way. (Malachi 1:8, Malachi 1:10–11) ... Consider this, you who forget God. . . . He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; (Psalm 50:10–15, Psalm 50:22–23).
How can we prepare ourselves to worship God in an acceptable way? The author of Hebrews tells us: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22) The phrase“let us draw near” is a call to worship. Acceptable worship doesn't happen spontaneously. Preparation is essential. For those who would heed that call, there are 4 things to consider. We're to draw near “with a sincere heart.”
Our heart is to be devoted to glorifying God. It is hypocritical to be worshiping God when we really are apathetic or preoccupied with self. God wants us to worship Him with our whole heart.
We're to draw near “in full assurance of faith.” The Hebrews were clinging to Old Covenant forms of worship, but the New Covenant made it clear there were to be no more ceremonies or sacrifices. Each person had to be willing to say, “I’m coming to God in full confidence that I am no longer under a system of ceremony. I come fully by faith in Jesus Christ.” We're to be fully assured that God accepts our worship because of our faith in Christ.
We're to draw near “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” We're to come to God with the knowledge that we’re unworthy to be in His presence & the only reason we can come to Him is because of the blood of Christ which was shed on the cross to cleanse us from our sin.
We’re to have “our bodies washed with pure water.” That refers to a daily cleansing. Before we can worship, we have to deal with any known sins in our lives through confession (1 John 1:9). Even though our hearts were cleansed at the cross, our feet still pick up the dust of the world from day to day. ...
God has redeemed you so that you might worship Him. It is the purpose for which you were created. Continue living in the light of God’s attributes as revealed in His Word, and ask that you might know more and more by experience what it is to worship Him in spirit and truth. That is a prayer our great God will delight in answering. ...
MacArthur, J. God: Coming face to face with His Majesty.
As believers we are rooted and grounded in Christ, but how deep our roots grow and how beautiful our fruit appears will depend, to a large degree, on our process of discovery and meditation on God’s wonderful truth. Where there is no discovery, there will be no meditation; where there is no meditation, there will be no worship. When we try to focus on worship, we will find one major hindrance—self. Instead of allowing time for prayer, meditation, and worship, we are prone to fulfill our own desires. We tend to think about our own projects, activities, and needs, but not about God. One way to circumvent that tendency is to have a heart filled with discovery from our own study of God’s Word. Even if we’ve learned it from someone else, we must meditate on those spiritual truths and make them our own. By doing so, the Lord will fill our hearts with praise. ....
A wise minister wrote long ago: Come now, little man, put aside your business for a while, take refuge for a little from your tumultuous thoughts; cast off your cares, and let your burdensome distractions wait. Take some leisure for God; rest awhile in him. Enter into the chamber of your mind; put out everything except God and whatever helps you to seek him; close the door and seek him. Say now to God with all your heart: “I seek thy face, O Lord, thy face do I seek” (cited by R.W. Southern in Saint Anselm and His Biographer). ...
There are some things God simply will not accept, and one of them is worship offered in a materialistic, self-styled, halfhearted way. (Malachi 1:8, Malachi 1:10–11) ... Consider this, you who forget God. . . . He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; (Psalm 50:10–15, Psalm 50:22–23).
How can we prepare ourselves to worship God in an acceptable way? The author of Hebrews tells us: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22) The phrase“let us draw near” is a call to worship. Acceptable worship doesn't happen spontaneously. Preparation is essential. For those who would heed that call, there are 4 things to consider. We're to draw near “with a sincere heart.”
Our heart is to be devoted to glorifying God. It is hypocritical to be worshiping God when we really are apathetic or preoccupied with self. God wants us to worship Him with our whole heart.
We're to draw near “in full assurance of faith.” The Hebrews were clinging to Old Covenant forms of worship, but the New Covenant made it clear there were to be no more ceremonies or sacrifices. Each person had to be willing to say, “I’m coming to God in full confidence that I am no longer under a system of ceremony. I come fully by faith in Jesus Christ.” We're to be fully assured that God accepts our worship because of our faith in Christ.
We're to draw near “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” We're to come to God with the knowledge that we’re unworthy to be in His presence & the only reason we can come to Him is because of the blood of Christ which was shed on the cross to cleanse us from our sin.
We’re to have “our bodies washed with pure water.” That refers to a daily cleansing. Before we can worship, we have to deal with any known sins in our lives through confession (1 John 1:9). Even though our hearts were cleansed at the cross, our feet still pick up the dust of the world from day to day. ...
God has redeemed you so that you might worship Him. It is the purpose for which you were created. Continue living in the light of God’s attributes as revealed in His Word, and ask that you might know more and more by experience what it is to worship Him in spirit and truth. That is a prayer our great God will delight in answering. ...
MacArthur, J. God: Coming face to face with His Majesty.
I love to worship God. 
